Cool, calm and collected

mxtdiguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2017
Location
Mexico
TDI
'16 sportwagen TDI sel 6mt
Check out 3M Crystalline 90 as well for windshields.

I have Crystalline in my GTI and it’s wonderful for heat rejection; one of the tops if not the top on the market and priced accordingly.

I want to do this to my windshield. About how much does it cost installed ?

Thanks
 

mxtdiguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2017
Location
Mexico
TDI
'16 sportwagen TDI sel 6mt
From scalding hot to hot

I am not a fan of dark tinted glass. Although it reduces direct heat from the sun, the glass itself gets much much hotter than non tinted glass. The best way to reduce both direct solar heat as well as heating the glass itself is to block and reflect solar heat before it enters the glass. One way to do this is to install white perforated window film on the outside of the glass. ( This is very popular for Phoenix airport shuttles )

Another way is to install reflective film on the outside of the glass, but this is not possible for side glass as it would potentially blind other drivers.

But why not on the Pano roof ?

So I bought some film on ebay designed for house glass:



You can clearly see the difference from above.

After also doing the rear section, this is what it looks like from inside :




I don't have an infared thermometer, but by touch I think the glass itself went from 180 degrees to maybe 120 or so. Big difference.

I think the idea is great, but my installation not so great. The film is made for flat glass and I ended up with a lot of creases for the front section and a couple for the rear. Maybe I could have used a hair dryer to get rid of the creases and I may try that since I have enough film to redo the front.

The film is super thin and has a layer which needs to be removed, wow did I have a hard time separating the two !

Anyway I think I will probably always have this reflective film on the roof glass. Happy with the drastic heat reduction.

As a bonus, I am reducing global warming with the film :)
 
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740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
every little bit helps, a commercial tint shop/ vinyl wrap company should have something to do it professionally.
 

bizzle

Veteran Member
Joined
May 21, 2013
Location
Southern California
TDI
2015 GSW SEL (totaled), 2013 Touareg Executive
I won't be doing my front windshield again. Caught a tiny rock (impact was pea shape/size) traveling on Wednesday but didn't even notice it. Went inside to the dentist office and by the time we came out my wife was pointing out a 6 inch crack down on the passenger side. By noon it was 8 inches and by the time we had an appointment to replace it next morning it had grown to over 10 inches. I've never seen a crack progress that quickly and all the window people I called told me it was due to the heat. Problem was that it was "only" 82-84F in San Diego that day (granted, that's hot by SD standards) but we come from 110-120F desert temps and everyone's windows would be cracking apart if 80-90F degree temps were the cause. I mentioned the window tint as a potential reason it got bad so quickly (tint on inside heating up the window to over 120F regardless of ambient air temp), but down here English skills are hit and miss so the people I was talking to might not have fully understood what I was getting at.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
I would say it is just the nature of an impact. Driving and stressing the windshield probably has more to do with it than temp, IMO. I have had 2 impacts in the last few months at over 100F and had no issues until fixed. One after a few weeks and another just days after.
 

mxtdiguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2017
Location
Mexico
TDI
'16 sportwagen TDI sel 6mt
I won't be doing my front windshield again. Caught a tiny rock (impact was pea shape/size) traveling on Wednesday but didn't even notice it. Went inside to the dentist office and by the time we came out my wife was pointing out a 6 inch crack down on the passenger side. By noon it was 8 inches and by the time we had an appointment to replace it next morning it had grown to over 10 inches. I've never seen a crack progress that quickly and all the window people I called told me it was due to the heat. Problem was that it was "only" 82-84F in San Diego that day (granted, that's hot by SD standards) but we come from 110-120F desert temps and everyone's windows would be cracking apart if 80-90F degree temps were the cause. I mentioned the window tint as a potential reason it got bad so quickly (tint on inside heating up the window to over 120F regardless of ambient air temp), but down here English skills are hit and miss so the people I was talking to might not have fully understood what I was getting at.
Same thing happened to my stock windshield. The cracks grew while parked in the sun. Next day I had a guy come out and glue the cracks which worked great for about three months ( and the glue made them almost invisible ), then a new crack developed. The impact is lower passenger side, so I was ok with just leaving it for a while because I've had bad experiences with replacing windshields in the past and I think the SEL has sensors, so I'm hesitant...


Apparently I can get stock glass or "Pilkington"? , which would you guys go with ?
 

thundershorts

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Location
west chester pa
TDI
2015 passat tdi sel premium 2015 golf s tdi gls tdi b5.5, 2002 eurovan,Peugeot 505 td,Citroen cx25 prestige
The vitro glass in my 2015 golf s was so bad, both distorsion and cloudiness, I replaced it with one made by st gobain-securit with a grey rather than greenish tint. I highly recomment doing this as it is totally distorsion free and color rendition is near perfect. Only 300 for either sensor or non sensor.
 

kjclow

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
Same thing happened to my stock windshield. The cracks grew while parked in the sun. Next day I had a guy come out and glue the cracks which worked great for about three months ( and the glue made them almost invisible ), then a new crack developed. The impact is lower passenger side, so I was ok with just leaving it for a while because I've had bad experiences with replacing windshields in the past and I think the SEL has sensors, so I'm hesitant...


Apparently I can get stock glass or "Pilkington"? , which would you guys go with ?
I hate the glue crap. In both my JSW and my daughter's corolla, there are chips just down and off center from the driver's direct line of sight. At certain times of the day, the sun will catch those and give crazy reflections. I would rather have paid for new glass but my insurance company won't.
 

mxtdiguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2017
Location
Mexico
TDI
'16 sportwagen TDI sel 6mt
The vitro glass in my 2015 golf s was so bad, both distorsion and cloudiness, I replaced it with one made by st gobain-securit with a grey rather than greenish tint. I highly recomment doing this as it is totally distorsion free and color rendition is near perfect. Only 300 for either sensor or non sensor.
Mine doesn't have any of those defects but I've read about them from others like yours. I don't think I can get st gobain-securit here in Mexico so I'll probably go with Pilkington and hope for the best.
 

Blue_Hen_TDI

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Location
Slower, DE
TDI
owned: 96 B4V, 06 Golf, 12 NMS, 15 GSW
Pilkington makes good glass. The 8 year old/68k mile Munich-built 335d I just bought has Pilkington Glass all around and no imperfections.
 

thundershorts

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Location
west chester pa
TDI
2015 passat tdi sel premium 2015 golf s tdi gls tdi b5.5, 2002 eurovan,Peugeot 505 td,Citroen cx25 prestige
st gobain does have a factory in Mexico and supplies glass to VW.
 

thundershorts

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Location
west chester pa
TDI
2015 passat tdi sel premium 2015 golf s tdi gls tdi b5.5, 2002 eurovan,Peugeot 505 td,Citroen cx25 prestige
Just avoid Vitro windshield glass, the lamination layer has a cloudiness to it and excessive distortion. Select a grey rather than green tint.
 
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